Tapdance at Knuckle Junction
by ZweI The Penguin With a Pen
Summary: A Vytal festival singles match between members of Haven Academy's Team MZKL and Beacon Academy's Team CRRM. (All OCs here, some mine and others belonging to my friends.)


**((Team CRRM belongs to my friends and fellow** **RWBY** **junkies Aiden and Crystal. Team MZKL are mine. Team ARTC also, but they're just mentioned. For ages now I've wanted Aiden's character Rhett Aquilon to fight my Zwei Silverstein, and I finally got around to writing it! Anyway, enjoy my shenanigans. Or not, that's cool too!))**

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Three members of Beacon Academy's Team CRRM found seats close to the arena floor. Their gargantuan teammate, Rhett Aquilon, had reached the Singles round of the tournament and could be squared up to fight any time. His partner Maize Demetra could hardly wait.

Seeing Rhett fight solo was always a treat. She wondered what poor soul would be cursing the day they were born. Her brown eyes were glued to the screen as the faces shuffled for the selection.

Her dude was up; the scrolling image on the left stopped on Rhett's face. The fox faunus cheered loudly, her sandy blonde hair bouncing as she hopped in place.

"Hey, little foxy!" Maize heard Yang say. "So who do you think your boy will be fighting?" Yang asked her as the image for Rhett's opposition began spinning.

"Whoever it is will regret ever signing up for this tournament! The biggest guy in Beacon is no one with whom to be trifled." Maize's teammate, the scruffy Rusty Holt, answered. He looked like he walked straight out of a Western movie: a dark brown vest over a white button-up, a gun belt over his denim pants, and a cowboy hat and boots. He kept two pistols holstered at his waist. He even sported a red bandana around his neck.

"You sure, Rusty? He's strong, but there are some contenders still in the game!" Crystal Brooke, the leader of Team CRRM, asked him. She had bright hair as blue as the sky and icy blue eyes to match. Her weapon, an axe-shaped guitar named Grimm Edge, rested on her back. "That huge dude from Haven with the axes, the musclebound chick from Vacuo. And Pyrrha, even though he probably won't be fighting a Beacon student."

"Oh please, the Frozen Bear Bullet will demolish anyone in his path!" Maize cheered again, her fox ears wiggling excitedly.

The spinning wheel of faces slowed, the crowd going silent in anticipation. It stopped on the face of Haven Academy's **Zwei Silverstein**.

"You guys still sure of the Polar Bear Boy?" A reptilian faunus with bright green scales asked them. **Ariah Mikari** grinned at the sight of her boyfriend's face on the screen. "His team demolished mine, and Team **ARTC** is just as tough as CRRM."

"Most of the reason for that was Team MZKL got a forest and Indigo made all the plants do his bidding! The only ones Zwei fought were you and Ragnar!" Maize snapped. Her brother would smash this human's face to pieces.

"You might remember Bakudan defeating Indigo and rushing Zwei alongside Miss Oktober. He took them both down easily enough. Bianca took out Lorelei but then Katrina blew her out of the stadium. Then in their Doubles match, he eradicated Flik Jewell with no problem while Tree fought off her cousin." Ariah reminded them. The fox girl rolled her eyes.

"Will Zwei Silverstein of Haven's **Team MZKL** and Rhett Aquilon of Beacon's Team CRRM please report to the arena stage!" Dr. Oobleck called over the PA. A silver blur raced out of an entryway onto the stage, and Zwei was standing there in wait.

An icy chill fell over the stadium as Rhett Aquilon, Beacon's biggest and baddest boy, made the scene.

"Rhett! I finally get to square up with the strongest fighter Beacon has to offer!" Zwei bowed respectfully before the walking freezer. Rhett nodded.

"I hear you've got the top marks at Haven, and it's not hard to see why. You pretty much carried your team in that first match!" Zwei's eyes narrowed at Rhett's remark.

"They held their own. Lorelei was tricked by **Bianca Tenerife** 's spells, and Indigo was just plain careless. He thought his trees would defend him well enough, but **Cambria Bakudan** made the whole forest go 'BOOM!'" He replied.

The bear faunus that was Rhett Aquilon was positively gigantic. He wore short and spiny white hair, and two small white bear ears rested atop his head. He seemed to not be wearing his armor today, though he could deploy the suit at any time. He looked almost like a bear Mecha when he wore his full armor suit.

Cryo and Rime, his enormous gauntlets, rested on his ginormous hands. The intricate gauntlets had spiked knuckles and wrists but otherwise looked cybernetic. Zwei knew to steer clear of the monolithic bear boy's freezing punches, lest he should wind up a block of ice. He'd made sure to pack Hiei and Kurama with custom Dust cartridges in case he needed an extra boost.

Rhett deployed his armor, the blue, white and black plates appearing from nowhere. "DUDE! YOU HAVE THE COOLEST ARMOR! IT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE ESCAFLOWNE!" Zwei spazzed at the sight of the fully armored Rhett.

"Like who?" Rhett replied. Zwei grinned.

"It's a mech from an anime."

"A mech? Like a Gundam?"

"The same idea, but vastly different. Escaflowne was like a knight's armor came to life or something. That show's technology was more retro-futuristic than most mecha shows."

"Hmm, I'll have to check it out. Is it as heart-wrenching as Evangelion?" Rhett could hardly believe he and his foe were nerding out in front of all of Remnant.

"Nah, it's more of a romance than a nightmare..." Zwei grinned, Rhett laughing back.

"If the gentlemen on the battlefield are ready... although I would love to hear more about these mecha shows you're both talking about later... BEGIN!" Dr. Oobleck announced. His inner nerd was showing proudly today, it seemed.

Rhett and Zwei came out swinging. Zwei was impressed that Rhett could move as fast as he did with such heavy armor. He was not as fast as Zwei, though. The silver-haired boy hopped around Rhett in circles, hacking away with his two throwing axes.

Rhett wasn't putting up with that. He activated his Semblance to freeze the air around him. Ice shards formed on Zwei's body, and he knew it was time to make some space between them. He yelled out, his Semblance amplifying the sound his voice and casting a barrier around him. He used the opportunity to hop away from Rhett.

All six feet and four inches of Zwei were now blistering cold. He used Hiei to conjure some fire to melt the ice on his uniform. He then thrust Hiei and Kurama together, the two axes taking the shape of what looked to be a rocket launcher. He shot a blast of fire Dust at the frozen bear man.

Rhett's icy Semblance sucked the heat out of the fire until it dissipated. It never even got close...

The blades of Zwei's axes came together and shot off at Rhett, surrounded by a ball of fire. This time when the fire fizzled out, the blades hit Rhett's armor. The suit disappeared. Zwei must have hit the switch.

"HEY! Don't show my body without my permission!" Rhett snapped. Zwei apologized.

"I feel like more people should see your body, though. It's pretty impressive. You're super jacked!" Zwei complimented. Rhett blushed.

"Not right now, though, I's got a fight to win!" The bear boy exclaimed as his armor returned. He charged at Zwei, seven feet and two inches of large and imposing bear man. Zwei rolled out of Rhett's way to avoid being crushed.

The two of them traded punches, Zwei shielding his fists with sound. It wasn't the best defense against Cryo and Rime and the onslaught of ice, but it kept him from being frozen solid. Zwei produced his yo-yo, a trick he normally wouldn't use, and thrust it forward. The yo-yo punched holes in Rhett's icy aura shield, and Zwei hacked his way through the opening he'd made with his axes.

Him getting that close to Rhett caught the bear boy off-guard, and Zwei's punch threw him off his balance. The enormous boy fell over, but he rolled and caught his footing.

"Did you get that from Ariah?" She uses yo-yos sometimes!"

"Her uncle gave me this, but he taught both of us the yo-yo fighting techniques! Little Rinku is a genius!" Zwei answered, winking at his girlfriend in the crowd. The reptile girl blushed brightly. "Alright, Rhett. Time for jams!"

"Like tunes or like noms?"

"The former. Why would I bring eats to a sanctioned tournament fight? I mean, I know a girl whose Semblance involves eating, but I don't think she even signed up for the tournament!"

"Do you see how large I am? I always pack eats with me. Speaking of which..." Rhett dug into a pocket on his armor and produced a sandwich, devouring it in a quick bite so the ice wouldn't freeze it. "MMM! MAIZE, THIS IS TASTY! THANK YOU! YOU'RE MY NEW FAVORITE!"

"Oh hush, Rhett! You're making her blush! Besides, she's your favorite already, isn't she?" Crystal answered him, their foxy teammate too stunned to speak.

"I ought to shoot you for that, Brain Freeze! We all know I make the best sandwiches in Vale!" Rusty fired off, Crystal rolling her eyes.

A tune started playing, and Rhett noticed Zwei had produced his cello. This tune was a bop. It sounded almost like a shanty.

"Hey, that's pretty good!" Rhett told him, dancing to the tune.

"Thanks!" Zwei replied. He put Genkai away, but the music continued. He produced his guitar. "Genkai makes for a nice rhythm, but Ototo here really makes the tunes!" Zwei played his tune on his new instrument, layering the music with his Semblance. He even clapped and used mouth noises to make a percussive section.

"Dude, you're totally a music machine!" Rhett cheered, still dancing.

"Yep, Ariah's folks used to call me Jukebox! Also, you do know this is building up to an attack, right?" Zwei asked. He had never had someone dance to his music in the heat of battle before, so he wanted to make certain.

"Of course! I've already got a counterattack strategy! You've got a hot beat going, and I feel like dancing! I'll be ready, trust me!" Rhett answered with a grin. "HEY EVERYONE! YOU GUYS SHOULD DANCE, TOO!" He yelled into the crowd, his thick baritone carrying over Zwei's music.

The audience caught the beat when the tune looped around. The rest of Team CRRM, as well as Teams RWBY and CFVY, danced around. Team SSSN joined in, even though Neptune looked ridiculous. Even Team JNPR paired off to dance.

"I think the song might be finished, my dude!" Zwei finally announced. Rhett nodded, finishing his dance and readying himself. His body surged with icy aura as Zwei increased his song's volume to painful levels. Rhett fired icicles at his foe as Zwei launched his decibels at Rhett. He fired all of his ice at once.

The blast knocked the two of them to the edge of the ring. They both tiredly hopped up. Rhett retracted his armor and gauntlets. The meters on the screen showed that their auras were low, but they had enough to keep fighting.

"So, shall we just have a fisticuff, then?" Zwei proposed. Rhett nodded, and the two ran at each other. They threw punches and kicks back and forth, evenly matched without their Semblances. Rhett caught one of Zwei's punches in his hand, uppercutting him in that brief opening.

Zwei took that hit hard, falling to the floor after being launched into the air by Rhett's monstrous mitt. He got up to one knee, breathing heavily. He shot at Rhett with an ax in hand, Rhett blocking with Cryo. It was Hiei and Kurama versus Cryo and Rime now.

The both of them swung ferociously, Zwei hacking with his axes and Rhett blocking and punching with his gauntlets. The side of Kurama slapped into Rhett's face, and Zwei tackled him with all his strength. Rhett fell back, but he rolled over and got back to his feet.

"These two just won't quit!" Professor Port mentioned over the PA.

"I knew this would be an incredible bout! These two are ruthlessly strong!" Dr. Oobleck returned. The two enormous boys continued trading blows, the battle finally culminating in a trade of face punches that knocked the both of them out.

"It looks like this match is a draw! Well met, gentlemen!" Professor Port announced. Rhett and Zwei shook hands when they finally stood back up.

"That was the best fight I've had in ages, Zwei!" Rhett complimented. Zwei grinned at the massive bear man.

"Without question, that was the best fight I've EVER had!" Zwei returned. "Hey, would you and your team be down to hang out later? I don't think Team MZKL will be up to anything."

"I'll ask everyone, but I'm pretty sure they'll be down with that," Rhett answered. He and Zwei departed the arena's stage and found their teammates. Zwei kissed his favorite reptile on the lips as she congratulated him.

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 _Recommended Listening:_

 _'Tapdance at Knuckle Junction' by Outline in Color_

 **((I couldn't decide which of them I wanted to win the fight. Like, yeah, I wanted my boy to win, but I felt like Rhett was stronger, so naturally I had to have them KO one another.**

 **Also I'm proud of myself that I wrote a fight fic that was this long. The last fic I wrote that broke 2000 words was almost entirely filler. Progress, I guess.))**


End file.
